The invention relates to antenna installations and more particularly to an aircraft radar antenna which is disposed within, and affixed to, a radome carried by the aircraft.
Large rotatable radomes for aircraft, such as those described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,026,516, issued Mar. 20, 1962 to E. M. Davis and U.S. Pat. No. 3,045,236, issued July 17, 1962 to P. A. Colman et al, in which a radar antenna disposed within the radome is rotated with it to effect 360 degrees azimuthal scanning, are well known to the aircraft industry. However, these rotatable radomes must have a substantially circular planform in order to avoid inducing lateral, directional, or pitching loads upon the aircraft as the radome is rotated. Also, these rotatable circular radomes cannot be aerodynamically streamlined, or faired, to conform to the local airflow around the aircraft in flight. These circular rotatable radomes are supported on a center shaft which must resist any pitching loads on the radome; consequently, the center shaft is a relatively heavy structure in comparison to a fixed structure with support members which are spaced to better distribute the loads acting on the radome.